


The Exiles

by pepoluan



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Espionage, F/M, Listrana, Republic of Listrana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-19 04:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8188897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepoluan/pseuds/pepoluan
Summary: The Wildes. Foxes. Immigrants. Their past is now catching up with them.





	1. Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What does the "Republic of Listrana" want? Hm?

#### St. Kieransburg, Republic of Listrana

_RING RING! RING RING!_

“Aleksandr here.”

“Aleksandr! Have you watched news today?”

“No, but I’m sure you’ll fill me in, Piotr.”

“Zootopia is celebrating their first fox police officer.”

“It’s about time they respected our species.”

“He has GREEN EYES, Aleksandr.”

A pregnant pause ensued.

“Prepare team. I will tell Anastasia she needs to leverage her contacts in Foreign Affairs. We leave tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

_CLICK_

‘ _You can’t hide forever, Ivan. Sooner or later, we find you...’_

* * *

#### Zootopia City, Zootopia

In the office of the Chief of Zootopia Police Department, a (mildly irritated) bunny and a (much more irritated) fox could be seen sitting on an oversized chair (for them), facing the stern old Police Chief. For a change, it was not _them_ doing the apology. Even though they were still in civilian clothing. Which was totally not their fault.

“Hopps. Wilde. First of all, apologies for having to cut short your vacation time,” Chief Bogo began.

“Not at all, Chief,” Judy replied first, with the bunny’s signature cheerfulness. Just in time to cut Nick from expressing his annoyance in a ... colorful way. “We are _always_ happy to help.”

Nick shut his mouth, still mildly glaring at the ZPD Chief. Upon hearing the words ‘always happy’, though, Judy got a share of the red fox’s glare. But, to his credit, he still kept his mouth shut. (Judy could have sworn she heard the sound of grinding teeth, though.)

His silence was not the least caused by the Chief’s apology, which totally caught him unprepared.

“Thank you, Hopps. And Wilde, I know you’re angry at me, and I don’t blame you, but the situation is beyond my control.”

Nick sighed. As irritated as he was, he appreciated sincere apology. And thanks to his experience hustling mammals in the City, he could tell that Chief Bogo was being sincere. He felt his irritation ebb away. Not completely, but quite significantly nonetheless.

“Alright, Chief. What was so urgent that we had to cut short our vacation? I do hope ZPD will reimburse us for the resort room payment, though. It had been paid in full upfront, and _they_ have a no-fund-return policy,” Nick piped up, earning him a quick elbow in the stomach from Judy.

“I’ll make sure you get your money back, fox,” the Chief replied. “But it won’t be the ZPD that reimburse you. It will be the State Department.”

“Very well, I’ll invoice to bill The State De-- what?” Nick had started to vent himself again before his brain registered the Chief’s sentence.

Judy just sat there with her jaw dropped on the floor.

Bogo just nodded. “Yes, the State Department. The official letter arrived just two days ago, and I cannot countermand an order from the Commander-in-Chief herself.”

“WHAT?” the fox and the bunny shouted in unison.

Bogo lifted up his paw to stave off the barrage of questions he could see coming, before continuing, “Now, I am sure you two have heard of the Republic of Listrana.”

Judy thought she saw a very subtle twitch on Nick’s face. But since Nick stayed silent, she replied to Bogo, “I think I have heard of the Republic... It transformed itself from a kingdom into a republic by deposing of the ruling king through a revolution. An authoritarian republic, if I remember correctly. But... not much else.”

Bogo nodded. “Yes, and they are very... secretive about their own country. Bordering on paranoia, if you ask me. Choosing to stay away from the affairs of the world unless they were directly affected.” Bogo paused for awhile to rummage through a stack of papers. As he found what he was looking for, he continued, “About one week ago, the State Department received an official communique from Listrana, stating that they are interested in starting a diplomatic relationship.”

Nick just huffed. “Honestly, I don’t see why that had got anything to do with us, Chief. We are police officers, not diplomats!”

“I’m getting to it, Wilde! So, they are going to send a team of envoys to Zootopia, to headstart the diplomatic process. And they officially requested a close-detail escort.”

Judy shook her head, “But why us? I think Delgato and Anderson had much more experience than the two of us with regards of diplomat relations--”

“Carrots,” Nick cut the bunny off. “Listrana is a nation of _**foxes**_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * The name "Listrana" comes from лисицы страна, which was Google Translate's translation of "fox country" into Russian.
>   * I am aware that this chapter is short. It is meant to serve as a "frame" in which the next chapters will be told in. I hope the strategy works :-)
>   * Also, in my worldbuilding, I headcanoned that Zootopia is both the name of the nation, and the name of the city. Hence, "Zootopia City, Zootopia". Bunnyburrow would therefore be "Bunnyburrow, Zootopia".
> 



	2. It's... Complicated

#### Zootopia City, Zootopia

Judy was having a headache.

First of all, she was still kind of disappointed, that her week off together with Nick got truncated to half what it was originally planned. She had been relaxing, decompressing nicely, thanks to all the pampering she got from the resort's facilities and the red fox's facility. Including massages, hot massages, _*hot*_ massages, and...

Judy stopped that line of thought because she was starting to blush. Again.

The second reason for her headache was that she had to pack up her dress uniform. And her blue uniform. And his. According to the State Department memo Bogo had read for them, "for the duration of the dignitaries' stay, she had to stay at the same hotel as the envoys".

(She had plans to try asking the State guys to assign her and Nick the same room, or at the very least, side-by-side rooms. With connecting doors.)

She had to pack everything alone, though. And the reason for her packing everything alone was also the third reason for her headache.

Nick had been... acting strangely since the short briefing with Bogo. Like really strangely. Like really _really_ strangely.

After hearing Nick explaining that Listrana was a nation of foxes, Judy had been happy, actually. Now, foxes were not exactly _rare_ in Zootopia, but they were not really many to begin with. And they tend to keep to themselves. Throughout her time in Zootopia, Judy can counton one hand the number of foxes she had had the pleasure -- or displeasure -- to meet: Nick, Nick's mom, Finnick, Gideon, and that pretty arctic fox Nick had ogled slightly too long, earning him a not-too-gentle jab on the sides (What's her name? Heaven or Sunshine or something like that).

With this assignment, Judy would have a chance to meet new foxes. And Nick would also meet his fellow species. The fly on the ointment, though, was that Nick looked the opposite of happy: He was _un_ -happy. He just nodded as Chief Bogo described the details of the assignment, such as how they would meet the State Department guy, where and when, other officers to be assigned (Judy sighed in relief when Bogo mentioned Delgato and Anderson _would_ also be assigned -- under her command), and many other details.

When they left the Police Chief's office, Judy was the one practically doing _all_ the talking. Nick replied only with 'yeah' and 'nope' and sometimes silence. And, out of the blue, it happened...

> "Look, Carrots, you go home. Take the scooter," Nick offered her the keys to their scooter. "I... I need to go somewhere else first."
> 
> "Wait, what? Nick, in case you forgot, we _have_ to prepare our luggage. You heard Bogo, we will be cooped up in the delegates' hotel for the whole week!"
> 
> "I'm sure you can cope. You're a strong bunny," Nick replied, his face unreadable.
> 
> Resting her paw on his arm, Judy tried to ask, "But... what's up Nick? I never saw you this... this way before..."
> 
> Nick just shook his head. "I'll ... I'll tell you later, Carrots. I will. I promise."
> 
> Then he gently removed her paw from his arm, and walked out of the ZPD Headquarters, leaving behind a very puzzled bunny.

She sighed as she recalled the... strange incident. She had nearly finished packing everything up. It was already close to sunset, and yet no sign of her fox.

_Where is he?_

* * *

#### Vulpesgrad, Republic of Listrana

A meeting room. Full with the aroma of cigar smoke, decaying wood, and neverending pointless debates.

"But Secretary...!"

"No buts, Grigor. The decision has been made."

"Doing such might cause us go into war!"

"War? War? You talking about war? Hah! Look, those animals, they have had _centuries_ of peace, of prosperity. They had grown fat, spineless, and lazy. They wouldn't dare going into war!"

"I still disagree. This is much too risky."

"Then humor me. What is _your_ plan?"

On the corner, a vixen sat silently.

———

An arctic fox ducked into a dingy bar on the outskirts of the capital city of Listrana. She did not stop to respond to the leer of the bargoers, for that's as far as they would dare to do. They don't know her, yet they know one thing: This one's is not worth their life to ogle or hassle.

She rushed into a backroom, knocked a certain knock pattern on another door, and quickly descended the stairs gracefully.

"Any news, Elena?" a male red fox greeted the swift vixen.

"We might have problems," the fox called Elena replied. "Team Omega will be part of the diplomatic mission."

"The Avengers?"

"None other."

"That is not good. Alert our people."

* * *

#### Zootopia City, Zootopia

Nick fished out his keychain. Decorated with a mini pewter tie and carrot (a cute present from Fru Fru, perfectly able to elicit a small smile from him even then when he was feeling down as he was), it carried a gaggle of keys. One of them was the key to his locker in Precinct One, another a key to his -- nay, their -- house on Cypress Grove, and a bunch of keys he kept around ‘just in case’.

Of of those ‘just in case’ keys was perfectly able to open the door to the apartment he was standing in front of. And so he opened the door.

Stepping in, he turned around and closed the door. Not forgetting to lock it again from the inside. “Can’t be too careful in this neighborhood,” his mom used to say. Turning around again, he caught a whiff of an unusual aroma... like cigarette smoke, but different...

He knew his mom sometimes, though very rarely, smoke cigarette. He knew what brand of cigarette his mom preferred. He knew the smell of that brand.

He knew that the smell he smelled was NOT of that brand.

Suddenly he recognized the smell. It was not the smell of a cigarette.

It was the smell of a cigar.

And he suddenly remembered where he had smelled that cigar before.

He ran toward the kitchen, stopping dead in his tracks as he came face to face with a smirking fennec.

“Yo, fox,” Finnick greeted him.


End file.
